Roof-tile beam for toy structures



O. H. STRUB ROOF TILE BEAM FOR TOY STRUCTURES March 15, 1927. 1,621,178

Filed Aug. 10, 1923 c H .s mue IVNVENTQR;

KM Attorney.

Patented Mar. 15, 19.27.

OTTO-Hf S'IBUB, eF KUDALsTADT GERlviAN-Y, ASSIGNOR TOTHEFIRM IF. AD; RICHTER. & CIEi' AZ Ga, ZBAUKASTENEABRIK OF RUDOLSTADT, TRURIIIGA; GERMANY.

ROOF IILE' BEAM'FOR TOY STRUCTURES. Y

Applicationfil'edAfigustlO; 1923, Serial no;

The-present invention'refers to a roof-tile:

beamforboxes of'bricks for: toy building purposes, which has a -double obj ect, namelyto act both as covering andas framefor rhomboid oining onto the hypothenuse of The triangular said right-angled triangle. part here fulfills the construct ve function, by providing' the necessary statical firmness fore has a' merely decorative function Figs; 1 to7 o-f the accompanying drawing show-one form oftheroof tile beam according 'itovthe present invention. The" section ofthebeamis=here composed of aarightangled triangle; of which the sides containing 'the 'righ t-angle are of different lengths and of'a rectanglejoining on to the hypothenuse o-f-th'eright angled triangle; For the sake "of" clarity, the two composite parts of the beam section are distinguished by dif ferent' cross sectioning in Fig. L

Fig. .1 is a perspective view of two rooftile beams, whilst Figs. 2 "to' 7. show 'diagrammatically; how"diflerentforms of roots can be b'ui'lt with theseroof-til beams.

2 shows a steep roof, Fig; 3 a=low roof, Fig; 4a mansard' or cn-rb roof, Fig; 53

5 a hipped roof, Fig; 6 a shed roof, and-Fig: 7

a shed'iroof consistingof a single roof-tile 4 beam, inwhich latter casethe beam has the effect otresting on its-hypothenuse.

These diagrammatic views as shown in sentative of types olfroofs', but they do not represent the exact contours of such types of roofs which may be constructed with my block'sin that-they IClO not show the small notches due to the angles formed by the sides b-0 and clf which are adjacent but not parallel to each other.

The roof-tile beam (a) has a section composed of a right-angled triangle 1) e f and a rectangle b c d f joining on to the hypothenuse of the triangle, the two sides of the triangle enclosing the right angle having lengths equal to the lengths or" two adjoining sides of thesection of .a normal rectangular; shaped bannin stone er the box fortherectangular part, whiclr latter forms the roof covering or outersk-in andth'ere Figures 2 to 7, are merely generally iep're 656,718." and in Germanyilbecember 27, '1922;

of bricks. If the latter are ofequai' lengtln; that is to-say' if thestonehas a square section, then the two sides of the triangle con taining the right angle will also be equal to oneanot'h'e'r: i The rectangle 0-0 '65 f joining on to the triangular sectiom eliminates all acute anglesin the section of the-beam; such acute angles 1 or sharp- QCigG'SYLI'QdlTfiGIIlb t0 form out 013 stone like material for instance; and are' very li able to becomefinj'ure'd or broken,- and also do n'ot permit of an-uninterrupted join 1 ing together of the roofetile beams -to a closed surfaces- Th'e' sur'face oi the roof til e forming theroof i covering is thus bound'e'd' 7 by right-angled edges. v

Neither the-triangle nor the-rectan' ;l e oom posingsthe sect-ion of the beam would' alone fulfill the above, requirements; The *roof tiles heretofore-knownhave been forined by 7 the diagonal 'di vision' oi' asquare or'irectans gle, in=whichcase-two' such triangular sections will always' together occupy} the area of'said square ol rectangles This wasr'nec essary, in order thatthe-sid-es-ofthetriangle' containing the right angle shonld' ,corre'- spond'with' the sides of the-building stonesof'the'boxofbricks: However; none 'o-f th e materials usedfor toy buildingstonesper mit th'e co rners formedi by the two hypothej q nuseangleg-b f ean'df b"-='e'"in"Fig-. lto be made-s0 sharp; that the-lengths of the sides 5 enclosing the right-angle practically oorre-,- spond with the side'lengthsofthe apper-fl tainin-g free=stone elements Tlie-'sliarp'"-cor ners will be blnn'ted or broken; wl1ic'h 1-esu-lts-" inthe disadvantage, that a gaping aperture ensues between the-ind-iwidiial rooftiles; so

that theunderlying constructionof the roof 5 shows through the roof-covering On 'th e"ot'her hand, sharp corners mu'st in any'case be avoidedflsincethey wouldbe a source of danger for the children using -jthe' box oi' bricks, and further no' materi'al is tough enough to preventthe corners from 109 breaking. The roof covering alone is also unserviceable, since it cannot be brought into organic connection with the right angle step top of the gable walls. Such a roof covering would have no support; and for 105 this purpose it would be necessary to provide other auxiliary constructions, which result in a considerable complication of the whole system.-

the case of a box of bricks such auxiliary eonstru'etive pieces weuld mg necessarily have to be made of a material foreign to the system. All these disadvan- I tages are eliminated by the use of the roOftile beam according to the present invention, as shown in Fig. 1.

, The sides 6, 7 and e, b of the roof-tile beam correspond to the length of the building stone sides on which they rest, irrespecive of the material used in the manufacture of the bricks and beams.

The acute angles of the triangle have been .converted into obtuse angles (Z, 7", e and 0, Z), c by uniting two sectional elements.

Two adjoining roof-tiles connect with their short sides I), c and f, d and thus conceal the interior entirely from view. By this means a homogeneous roof covering is attained. The otherwise necessary internal constructions or framework for the roof can be done away with altogether andthe rooftile beam may be laid without intermediate support from one gable wall to the other.

If the span exceeds the limit prescribed by the strength of the section, one or more tiebeams must be inserted.

The sides e, f and e, b enclosing the night angle afi-ord an excellent rest-surface for the lroof-tile and correspond exactly to the horiontal and vertical sides of the steps forming the upper part of the gable walls.

The length of the roof-tile beam (at) is always a multiple of a certain common quantity, which forms the fundamental unit oft-he box-of-bricks system. If these roof tiles are placed on the horizontally and vertically bounded step-like tops of the gable walls, which latter are built with the building stones of the box of bricks, it will always be possible to achieve a closed inclined roof surface of any desired extent. The roof-tiles can be used in two positions, according to whether the building stones are laid on their broad or their narrow sides.

' In this manner it is possible to build roofs of different inclinations and shape as shown in Figs. 27.

In order that the difierent lengths of roof beam should not mar the appearance of the outer surface of the roof, the outside surfaces of the beams can be provided with sham or blind joints, equidistant and parallel to each other. These blind joints may also be arranged cross-wise. In any case been possible,

therefore constructively and statically utilised and the roof-tile beam fulfills a double function, namel' 1. It forms t1e outer roof covering, and

2. It .performs the function of the roof fral'ne or roof construction.

In thecase of large roofsurfaces the rooftile beam extends from one tie piece to the next, so that it is here only necessary to add these tie pieces to the outer walls at oer-'1 tain distances. 1

With the roof-tile sections hitherto known and used in boxes of bricks the above de-- scribed constructional utilization has not since the elimination of the structure underlying the individual rooftiles would cause a gaping aperture to appear at the longitudinal joints of the rooftiles, which completely mars the appearance of a closed roof surface. The roof tile according to the present invention therefore fulfills not only a decorative purpose, but has also a constructional function in consequence of its peculiar sectional form and'of its sectional dimensions corresponding to the building stones, and also in consequence of its longitudinal dimension compared with this stone.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

A toy building block roof comprising a plurality of bars conforming to the length of the roof, said bars each presenting in cross section an unequal sided right angle triangle with a parallelogram on the hypothenuse of the triangle, and said bars being arranged so that the sides of the parallelogram constitute the thrust surfaces of the roof.

In testimony whereofI hereunto afiix my signature.

OTTO H. STRUB. 

